Nineteen people were arrested on suspicion of vandalism in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu Thursday, in a strike held to protest against upcoming elections, police said.
The men were arrested for trying to force vehicles to stay off the roads on the third day of a transport strike called by opposition parties ahead of constituent assembly elections on November 19.
Public transport was thin in the capital because of the strike.
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The group of 33 smaller opposition parties believe the national poll will not be fair if it is overseen by the chief justice heading the current caretaker government.
Nepal elected a constituent assembly in 2008 to write a constitution, but it was disbanded in May 2012, after failing to achieve consensus on the text despite several extensions of the deadline.
The protesting parties were spearheaded by the CPN-Maoist, a breakaway faction of the Unified Maoist party, one of the country’s largest, which led the decade-long conflict in Nepal. A peace accord was signed in 2006.
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Violent incidents have increased as the Election Day draws closer.
Eight people were injured in the capital late Wednesday when protestors threw a petrol bomb at a bus.
Government figures said over 50 acts of violence and arson were reported on the first two days of the strike, on Tuesday and Wednesday.